Here And Now

Voters in Massachusetts go to the polls today to vote in a special election to fill the seat left vacant when President Obama appointed Sen. John Kerry secretary of state.

At 7:30 a.m., state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli accepts the “Pacesetter Award” from the National Association of Securities Professionals, The Crown Plaza, Times Square, 1605 Broadway, Manhattan.

At 10:30 a.m., JCOPE meets in Albany, 540 Broadway.

At 10:45 a.m., LG Bob Duffy will discuss Start-Up NY at State University of New York at Oswego’s Sheldon Hall, 7060 Route 104, Oswego.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Actress Glenn Close and former First Lady Matilda Raffa Cuomo, the Women’s Forum of New York’s third annual “Elly Awards” to Help USA chair, the former governor’s daughter, Maria Cuomo Cole, and The Paley Center for Media President and CEO Pat Mitchell, The Plaza Hotel, 768 Fifth Ave.

At approximately 1:30 p.m., Obama will deliver a speech on climate change at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He’s expected to announce new rules to restrict carbon pollution at new and existing power plants.

At 2 p.m., 32BJ members and officials, including President Hector Figueroa, hold a news conference to discuss the outcome of a vote by the union local’s executive board to endorse a candidate in the NYC Democratic mayoral primary; 25 W. 18th St., Manhattan.

At 6 p.m., Cuomo will hold a high-dollar ($1,000 for a single ticket, $50,000 for chairs) fundraiser featuring a performance by Paul Simon. The Plaza Hotel, Manhattan.

From 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Latino broadcasters, columnists, editors and reporters discuss “Latinos and the 2013 New York City Mayoral Election” during a forum featuring concluding remarks by National Institute for Latino Policy President Angelo Falcon, conference center, fifth floor, 25 W. 18th St., Manhattan.

Also at 6 p.m., AG Eric Schneiderman and senior officials from his office will be holding a community forum in Syracuse to address issues of significance to Onondaga County residents in areas such as environmental protection, labor rights, civil rights, health care, and consumer fraud and protection, Everson Museum of Art, 401 Harrison St.

At 7:30 p.m., DiNapoli accepts a second award from the National Association of Securities Professionals, this time for recognizing efforts to promote the careers of female and minority professionals in the securities industry, Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan, 1605 Broadway.

Headlines…

Lawmakers managed to rescue a single piece of Cuomo’s failed Women’s Equality agenda: A bill that would extend to 17 from 15 the age at which judges can offer counseling instead of jail time to minors facing prostitution charges.

Female Assembly Democrats are still bitter that they were asked last week to approve what they called a watered-down package of measures to address everything from pay equity to sexual harassment to abortion. They say Cuomo should have relied on them more than outside advocates.

The NYT says voters should remember the Senate’s failure to pass the Women’s Equality Act when the 2014 elections roll around – “especially those of Dean Skelos, the State Senate leader; his Republican allies; and two Democrats who are hostile to women’s issues: Senators Rubén Díaz Sr. of the Bronx and Simcha Felder of Brooklyn.”

During an upstate swing yesterday, Cuomo touted Albany’s accomplishments in 2013 and sought to re-enforce his commitment to an upstate region he said is often forgotten in the Capitol. But some business groups offered a different view.

With the support of Speaker Chris Quinn, the Council overwhelmingly approved twin motions — each by a vote of 41 to 8 — to bypass a committee where two stop-and-frisk bills had stalled and bring them up for a full hearing and vote as early as tomorrow.

Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, and ally of Speaker Sheldon Silver, was overheard telling Republican colleague Nicole Malliotakis that there would be consequences if the GOPer kept calling for Silver to step down over the Vito Lopez sexual-harassment scandal. UPDATE: Glick tweeted this morning that this report is untrue.

Bloomberg is spending city cash and resources on his pet project to toughen US gun laws through his national organization, and even sent a city employee to Nevada to lobby for a bill that enforces background checks on all firearm sales in that state.

Top law enforcement officials have filed court affirmations in support of New York’s new gun control law, the SAFE Act as state lawyers moved to dismiss a federal challenge to the law brought by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association.

Bloomberg administration deputy mayor Howard Wolfson is now a chief critic of the UFT, which is at war with his boss, but he used to be a champion of the teacher’s union’s efforts – back when he was a private sector consultant.

Democratic NYC mayoral candidate Bill Thompson has assembled an improbable coalition of schools-focused supporters that brings together a handful of warring camps, raising questions about whether he will eventually have to turn against some of his backers.

One of Thompson’s most prolific fund-raisers, Jacob Brach, is a controversial Satmar Jew and an admitted swindler who once cheated a tiny, economically depressed Wisconsin village out of $250,000 and later escaped from a federal prison.

Allowing the expansion of casino gambling isn’t the only constitutional issue New Yorkers will be asked to decide this November – a recent record of five amendments will be on the ballot.

Bill Hammond rails against the Legislature for having “done exactly bupkis to end runaway corruption in Albany” this past session.

Rep. Chris Gibson is “disappointed” the House last week voted down a five-year bill to set food stamp benefits and agricultural support programs, but hopes taking a controversial amendment off the table could help ease its eventual passage.

The Long Island community’s hospital remains closed almost eight months after it sustained $20 million of damage from superstorm Sandy.

Rudy Crew, the educator who ran NYC’s and then Miami’s public school systems but was forced out of both positions amid political clashes, has been named as the new president of Medgar Evers College, a predominantly black college in the CUNY system.

Cuomo is demanding answers from a landlord accused of intimidating hundreds of immigrant tenants into abandoning their rent-regulated apartments.

Sandra Lee, who has been criticized by the Catholic Church for “living in sin” with Cuomo, toured the Vatican yesterday.